Last Comic Standing 6, Episode 3: Welcome to the Land of Eh

I have a quick note before we start. Something I just have to say before I get on with the article. There’re only two other reality shows I’m watching now – Top Chef and Hell’s Kitchen, and they’re starting to jumble around in my head, as this season of Top Chef is a bit crappy, while I’m enjoying Hell’s Kitchen more than I should. So when I start wondering why Lisa is still on Hell’s Kitchen, I know something’s wrong. Then again, her ability to cook seems to fall below the level of the jokers on Hell’s Kitchen, not to mention that she’s such a sourpuss that you think her throat is trying to suck in her lips. So, I can see why I keep mixing her up with them.

No doubt I’ve totally confused the LCS readers here. But I just had to get it off my chest.

As predicted, the finale of Lost swept the floor with everything else last week. NBC took a hit, with a 4.37 in the ratings for LCS last week, with a 1.8 in the 18-49 demographic. That’s down from the week before for the night, where it had done a 5.9 and a 2.4 in the 18-49 demographic. We’ll have to see how it does this week with less competition. Then again, the dragging out of the tryouts does tend to wear down on the ratings for the show every season, and there’s still another week of that to come!

This week’s episode opens without the usual Bill Bellamy piece on the Vegas stage reminding viewers that only one comic will win the program. Instead, we head straight into a recap of the previous week before being told that they will air a tryout “so confrontational” that the producers nearly did not air it.

This leads straight into Bill and Fearne arriving on a trolley-car in San Francisco. It’s as cliché as you can get, really. I mean, what’s next? Bill dressing up as a Mountie for the Toronto tryouts? Heh. We only get a snippet of those two outside Cobb’s Comedy Club on February 29th, however, as the camera quickly cuts to inside where the judges are Josh Gomez from Chuck and French Stewart from 3rd Rock From The Sun.

Unlike previous judges, these two appear to be known more for their acting in their respective television series than any previous history in stand-up or improv. That’s not to say that they don’t seem to be trying here as judges, but just that they are a step away from the credentials that made the other judges such a good fit for the show. They certainly appear to be taking the judging as seriously as earlier individuals, however, as French tells the camera that they are wanting to see “something we haven’t seen a thousand times,” while Josh is concerned that they find people who are confident on stage.

First up is Jason Downs, who does a funny bit about going to the house where Anne Frank lived. He is asked back. Next, however, is the tryout that was announced at the top of the show as being one that the producers were not sure if they should air. So, of course, they decide to air it.

The contestant is Shashi Bhatia, who does a meager rap-music gag that falls flat more due to her delivery than the joke itself. Stewart tells her to stop and that they have decided to pass. This brings out the anger in Bhatia, who begins to bad-mouth Stewart in such an aggressive way that it appears to the viewers – and evidently to Stewart and Gomez – that she’s joking with him. Stewart plays back before realizing that she is not joking around. Soon it becomes clear that he’s trying to end things before it blows up completely, and a production tech eventually walks on stage in an attempt to have her break it off and get out. She leaves, only to tell the camera that she didn’t think it went well.

Meanwhile, inside Stewart tells Gomez that it felt like he had taken a date-rape drug and was being dragged along into something he didn’t want to be involved in. The worst thing about it for Bhatia? That the actor’s responses were not only funnier than hers as a comic, but were more spot-on bouncing off of her anger than anything she had as jokes for her set. That doesn’t help her look good after her appearance on the program.

Next is a goofy guy called Francois Fly, who wears a suit and has a couple of strainers on his head so he looks like a fly. French says no, and then says judging is all an excuse to see “wacky” people trying out who stink.

This leads me to this unnecessary word of advice to people trying out for the program. Look – we’ve all heard the stories told about this year’s tryouts: the producers begging for people to come in wearing “crazy, wacky” stuff, and people going home to put on stupid stuff in order to get camera time. The problem is that all this can guarantee you is a two-second slot in the “so bad, they’re terrible” montage on the program, doing a “character” that is not really your act. Of course, you want national airtime, but is it worth those two seconds of glory to be something you’re not known for, or will ever do, on a regular basis again?

I know a lot of you are probably sick of me bringing up Chris Keimling’s Klaus character that has turned up on numerous seasons, but it’s a good example of how this should work. Keimling created a character that he does as part of his act. It’s not just a stunt bit that he did in order to get two seconds on LCS; there’s a reason and method behind it. Not to get all serious about comedy methods (because nothing kills comedy quicker than trying to dissect it), but if you saw Keimling perform somewhere, you would know that Klaus is just one part of his act, and he does the character where it fits into the scheme of things.